Warden Integer Home

" Environmental living without the hassle. We are enjoying living here. It’s very contemporary."

Lynn Whyte

13th March 2003

Funded by Warden Housing Association, supported by West Berkshire County Council and built by Berkeley Home, Strutt & Parker are bringing the UK's first INTEGER home onto the market.

Standing on the southern edge of Newbury, 6 Heather Gardens is green, intelligent and innovative. This is a spacious four bedroom family home with reception hall, sitting and dining room, cloakroom, study, kitchen, laundry room, conservatory, three bathrooms, garden and double garage.

There are a number of features making this home a healthy, safe and low maintenance way of living including solar heating, low maintenance and sustainable timber frame construction, extensive cabling and communication technology or rapid internet and computer access throughout the house, grey water recycling, rainwater collection and warmcell recycled newspaper insulation in wall cavities.

Mark Denyer, Regional Development Manager for Warden Housing Association says "We are pleased to be able to offer this home for sale. Situated on a private cul-de-sac, it was built to the highest standards and incorporates both environmental and technological features."

Toby Milbank of Strutt & Parker's Newbury office says "This is a truly unique house, equipped with up-to-date and pioneering technology. I am confident that it will attract considerable interest."

Strutt & Parker of Newbury are quoting a guide price of £450,000 for 6 Heather Gardens.

April, 2002

" Environmental living without the hassle." We are enjoying living here. said Lynn Whyte when interviewed recently in the Warden INTEGER home. The Whyte family moved in to this exciting green and intelligent home in Newbury and became the first in the UK to rent such a home for two years to help to monitor the cost and comfort benefits. The project was a partnership between West Berkshire Council, Warden Housing Association Ltd, INTEGER and Berkeley Homes and was built in only three months. After the two year rental period it will become the first INTEGER home in the UK offered for commercial sale. Proceeds from the final sale will be re-invested by West Berkshire Council into social housing projects.

Here are some of Lynn and the children’s feelings about the house after nine months.

"When we moved into the house absolutely everything was different for us. The warmth, heating, size and whole feel of the house is a dramatic contrast to our previous rural cottage and it has really been quite difficult to get used to.

The underfloor heating is wonderful. We were not used to central heating so it has taken us time to get to grips with.
What I really like is that we do use the whole of the house and do not shut rooms and turn the heating off - everything is all in equal use. We do not notice any colder weather, even when very icy we didn't realise how cold it was. We even tend not to notice the change of seasons too much.

The house is quite low-maintenance inside and is very comfortable to live in. Certainly the construction of the house means there are no draughts and there is an even temperature nearly everywhere.

Let us talk about some of the features of the house…..

During the winter we are using gas to top-up the hot water every morning but this might not be necessary, I need to try not using the gas. During the summer we did not need any top up and the water was always red hot. In the summer with only the solar collector on we only once ran out of water - and that was when we had a lot of guests - and we are always using hot water for a dishwasher, washing machine and lots of showers and baths (which goes to the grey water recycling so we can be green as well as clean!).

During the winter, this should be on all the time or it would need to reheat the cold concrete in the floor, which would be inefficient. This does mean that the whole house gets heated however, reducing the need to have the heating on upstairs so often. I do find there are hot and cold spots on the floor, but really the house and the heating is doing a fantastic job as there is an even heat around the rooms. If it suddenly warms up outside or it needs to catch up in cold weather, it sometime takes a while to balance.

The house is now really fully intelligent. Simon has worked hard to continue where the build left off to finish the network, and his employer altohiway (www.altohiway.com) have installed ADSL. This is a real plus, to have a network and ‘always-on’ internet connection available in every habitable room is excellent.

This is excellent, it is rare to have condensation or steamy bathrooms and kitchen.

For the first few months the quality of the water was brilliant and the toilets kept very clean.

The conservatory is very weather dependent and at the height of the summer was too hot. However this was also useful, especially in the late summer/autumn, as the heat from the conservatory spread through the house. During the winter, this has happened less often but when it is sunny we are able to open up the conservatory doors to the main house to allow heat through. However the temperature also drops very quickly.

I do appreciate it was designed as a garden room but it really needs someone around during the day to open and close windows and doors. But because the conservatory is not heated the room is considered ‘non habitable’ and so is not part of council tax. We have a problem at the moment with condensation, and a bit of a leak, which is currently being looked into.

The induction hob is brilliant. The steam oven is a lovely idea, but the food does not retain the heat. I do miss my Rayburn cooker in our old cottage and because of the temperature differences, the way we came together as a family in the warmer areas of the house.

Nick

We all like being able to get onto a computer or the Internet anywhere in the house.
The house is so warm it's weird.
We have a lot more space here and I have now moved into the guest bedroom, because it is bigger than the children's bedrooms.

Louise

The heat here is really very different compared to where we used to live which was very old.
It is so nice and warm here.
We have lovely hot water everywhere.

Spiro

A friend of Nick's visiting the house to play computer games with his friend said
The house is way more modern than mine I really like it.
The LAN and Internet connection is really good.

April 27th, 2001

More than seventy guests from around the UK on Friday 27^th April celebrated the opening of the Warden INTEGER home in Newbury and welcomed the tenants to their new home. The Whyte family took over the keys and will now become the first in the UK to rent a Warden INTEGER home for a two year period and help to monitor the cost and comfort benefits. The project has been a partnership between West Berkshire Council, Warden Housing Association Ltd, INTEGER and Berkeley Homes and was built in only three months. After the two year rental period it will become the first INTEGER home in the UK offered for commercial sale. Proceeds from the final sale will be re-invested by West Berkshire Council into social housing projects.

Peter Shirley, Deputy Chairman of Warden Housing Association explained at the opening why the home, which incorporates many environmental features, is no ordinary home. From timber frame construction using recycled insulation to grey water recycling, passive stack ventilation, solar collector for water heating and many energy saving devices the house demonstrates new environmentally friendly construction techniques. "A monitoring project will be undertaken during the two year rental period to gauge the response of the tenants and house buyers of the future to environmentally sustainable housing provision" he said. "In doing so it will help both private developers and social landlords to apply intelligent and green principles to future development projects."

As part of the planning permission for the site, West Berkshire Council facilitated the development of an environmentally friendly home by Berkeley Homes off Monks Lane, Newbury. Warden Housing Association was then selected by West Berkshire Council to fund and manage this exciting project. The partnership has included kitchen sponsors Brandt and Symphony who have provided energy saving appliances and kitchen fittings.

Tenant Lynn Whyte explained the family's excitement at moving into their new Warden INTEGER home. Simon, Lynn, Nick and Louise currently live in the country south of Newbury and rent an old, traditional cottage where they have lived for the last seven years. Both parents work in Newbury for high-tech companies and all the family are environmentally conscious and enjoy organic gardening and recycle whenever they can. "We will be able to make excellent comparisons of the differences between living in a relatively normal house and in the Warden INTEGER home, which are at almost completely different ends of the spectrum" said Mrs Whyte.

"This winter has been especially hard in our old property. It is often cold, hard work to maintain and expensive to run with a coal Rayburn, an open fire, night storage heaters, and little insulation. Living in the Warden INTEGER home will be a complete change of lifestyle. It is like a new life for us all really" she said.

For further editorial information contact:
Jane Mason
Tel: 07788 528753
Email: jane@stoppress.co.uk
Office: 01235 861814.

For all information contact Jacqui Kissai, Warden Housing Association Public Relations
281 Field End Road, Eastcote, Middlesex HA4 9XQ.
Tel: 020 8582 2212.

Warden Housing Association Ltd was formed in 1965 and is a registered social landlord with charitable status. Warden is an entrepreneurial Association developing innovative and affordable housing solutions, operating in over 90 local authority areas in Southern England and owning and managing more than 11,000 homes.

A group of UK designers and consultants formed to apply intelligent and green technologies to house building. INTEGER set out to re-invent the home with people at the heart of the process. In 1998 the 'Dreamhouse'was built in just 12 weeks and filmed by the BBC with Carol Vordeman.

March 30, 2001

The family who will rent Newbury's first green and intelligent home was announced this week. Seven families were interviewed in a selection process carried out by Warden Housing Association to find a suitable family to rent the Warden INTEGER home for two years. Mr and Mrs Whyte and their two children aged 8 and 13, were the lucky family selected to experience and research an environmentally friendly way of living in a spacious modern home. They will be the first family in the country to take part in a monitoring project for a long period of time to help quantify the cost effectiveness and comfort factors of living in an "intelligent and green" home.

The Whyte family will benefit from living in a light, airy and spacious environmentally friendly new house which has computer and communications throughout and environmental features such as solar water heating, grey water recycling, rainwater collection, passive stack ventilation control and recycled newspaper insulation. The family currently live in the country south of Newbury and rent an old, traditional cottage where they have lived for the last seven years. Both parents work in Newbury for high-tech companies and all the family are environmentally conscious and enjoy gardening environmentally and recycle whenever they can. "We will be able to make excellent comparisons of the differences between life in a relatively normal house and in the new Warden INTEGER home, which are at almost completely different ends of the spectrum" said Mrs Whyte.

"It has been a wonderful experience living here and we will take with us many happy memories, but the winters can be very hard" said Mrs Whyte. "This winter has been especially hard in our old property. It is often cold, hard work to maintain and expensive to run with a coal Rayburn, an open fire, night storage heaters, and little insulation. Living in the Warden INTEGER home will be a complete change of lifestyle. It is like a new life for us all really" she said. The father, Simon Whyte explained the family also make extensive use of computers in their work and play and often work remotely from home. "The exchange line is very poor in the rural area we live " he said "this will improve when we move and we are excited at being able to make full use of the connectivity and cabling in every room of the Warden INTEGER home."

Jo Curson, Regional Technical Manager for Warden Housing Association commented on the selection process. "We chose the Whyte family as we are sure they will work closely with Warden over the next two years to help us understand the economic and comfort benefits of building housing using environmental features" she said. "The family showed a good balance

between technical knowledge and environmental commitment and their children are old enough to be actively involved in the monitoring and have different views from their parents." The family have many interests with Mrs Whyte being an enthusiastic cook who enjoys gardening, cycling, walking, furniture restoration and DIY and a variety of crafts and Simon Whyte is fascinated by computers and has recently built his own PC. Their daughter, aged 8, is keen on technology, swimming and art and both children demonstrated their awareness of the need to look after the environment and save energy during the selection process. The family's 13 year old son, who enjoys surfing the net and Archaeology said " I think it will be really exciting to be part of the monitoring project to see how environmentally friendly the way we live can be."

The Warden INTEGER home in Newbury has many similar features to the original INTEGER "DreamHouse" built in 1998 at the Building Research Establishment in Watford. The four-bedroom detached Warden INTEGER home is scheduled for completion in April and has been built using low maintenance and sustainable timber frame construction and incorporates a distinctive conservatory at the rear.

Warden Housing Association Ltd was formed in 1965 and is a registered social landlord with a charitable status. Warden is an entrepreneurial Association developing innovative and affordable housing solutions, operating in 90 local authority areas in Southern England owning and managing more than11,000 homes.

For further editorial information contact Jane Mason on 0778 852 8753 or Jacqui Kissai, Warden Housing on 020 8868 9000.

January 21, 2001

News Update from Newbury's first green and intelligent home

Construction is moving fast at the Warden INTEGER home in Monk's Lane, Newbury with completion anticipated by the Spring. Warden Housing Association announced this week that new sponsorship will provide for kitchen fitting and appliances for the home. "The Symphony Group Plc has this week offered to sponsor the installation of furniture to fit out the kitchen and utility room" announced Warden's Development Director, Mr Tim Holden. The Brandt Group, Europe's third largest manufacturer of domestic appliances in Europe, will also be supplying a number of new and innovative energy-saving kitchen appliances " he said.

The Symphony Group Plc, based in Leeds has over 30 years experience in the manufacture and supply of high quality kitchens. The company's Product Manager, Katherine Lyon, explained their involvement in the project "Our Company is committed to working in an environmentally friendly way which we demonstrated through our ISO 14001 certification achieved in 1996. We have a comprehensive environmental policy which monitors and measures the environmental impact of our products and so are pleased to work with Warden Housing Association to develop more environmentally friendly ways of living for the future" she said.

If you are an environmental, high tech family looking for somewhere to live, then Newbury's first green and intelligent home needs you. Warden Housing Association also announced that the search is still on for tenants for its innovative four-bedroomed INTEGER House. Despite interest from more than thirty families in December only a handful have applied to rent the house for two years. The family will be asked to assist with a monitoring project and create video diaries to document the benefits and pitfalls of green and intelligent living.

Meanwhile the timber-frame house construction is moving fast. The roof and visually dramatic cedar exterior cladding is complete. Some of the special environmental features are now being installed including the Warmcell 500 cellulose fibre which is recycled newspaper, pulped and then treated with organic fire retardants before being sprayed on site to fill the cavity between the sheathing boards sandwiching the structural walls. The high level access panelling is removable and hides the duct for accommodating cabling so householders can modify power and ITV arrangements.

If you are interested in renting the home please contact Jez Morris at Warden Housing Association on 0118 977 7600 or email jez.morris@homegroup.org.uk

For further editorial information and background contact: jane@stoppress.co.uk

Jacqui Kissai, Warden Housing PR Co-ordinators
Tel: 020 8582 2212
Warden Housing Association, 281 Field End Road, Eastcote, Middlesex HA4 9XQ

Jane Mason, Local PR Co-ordinator
M obile: 0778 852 8753
Office 01235 861814

INTEGER is a registered trademark INTEGER INTELLIGENT AND GREEN

December 15, 2000

Newbury's first intelligent and green home designed using Integer principles reached roof level this week. Representatives from Warden Housing Association, West Berkshire Council and Berkeley Homes assisted with the construction during an open afternoon to demonstrate this innovative new way of building. Councillors, local residents, representatives of housing organisations and interested groups were given the opportunity of seeing the environmental features being built in the house.

The four-bedroomed detached home in Monks Lane is scheduled for completion in Spring 2001, and the search is currently taking place for a tenant to live in the House for two years at market rent. It will then become the first Integer home in the UK to be offered for commercial sale. The tenants will be selected by Warden Housing Association and will assist with a monitoring project and the creation of video diaries to quantify the cost effectiveness and comfort factors of living in an intelligent and green home.

Construction of the house has progressed quickly since it was commenced in early November. The Integer construction uses pre-formed timber-frame panels which provide impressive thermal performance being half the normal U value (the standard measurement for heat loss) at 0.2 W/M₂. The walls are built off-site and lifted into place by crane. The panels have thick stud work creating wall cavities of 170 mm. Wooden kits from managed sources score well under environmentally sustainability criteria - mature trees cut down to supply timber will have finished growing and so stopped being net consumers of CO₂, but the saplings then planted to replace them will be hungry consumers of CO₂ as they grow to maturity.

But the most ecology minded aspect of the House's wall construction is its insulation. This is a Warmcell 500 cellulose fibre which is recycled newspaper, pulped and then treated with organic fire retardants before being sprayed on site to fill the cavity

between the sheathing boards sandwiching the structural walls. The high level access panelling is removable and hides the duct for accommodating cabling so householders can modify power and ITV arrangements.

Only about five per cent of the water supplied to homes is used for drinking and food preparation. The remaining 95 per cent is used for toilet flushing, cleaning and irrigation and does not need to be of the same high quality. The economic and environmental cost of supplying all water used to potable standards is high. The Integer Home recycles water used for washing and bathing - grey water - and uses it for toilet flushing. In this way, a reduction in potable water usage of around 30 per cent can be achieved.

Grey water is collected from the bath, showers and hand basins rather than going directly to the sewer system. This water is filtered and biologically treated to remove soap, dirt and bacteria. The treated water is then delivered to a storage tank situated in the garage floor and used for toilet flushing. When insufficient grey water is produced, mains potable water provides a back-up supply to the storage tank.

The exterior of the house is finished using Western red cedar cladding. This weathers from its current rich orange hue to a silver finish which requires no painting or maintenance. The timber has not been treated, instead naturally occurring oils in the wood will naturally resist decay. The life expectancy of the cladding is 80 years plus and originates from the forests of British Columbia where the wood is grown in a sustainable way. The next open day will take place later in January 2001 when further environmental features will have been installed and the construction nears completion.

For further editorial information and background contact: jane@stoppress.co.uk

Jacqui Kissai or Rosie Salkeld, Warden Housing PR Co-ordinators
Tel: 020 8582 2212
Warden Housing Association, 281 Field End Road, Eastcote, Middlesex HA4 9XQ

November 3, 2000

Newbury's first intelligent and green home designed using INTEGER principles was launched today (Friday 3 November 2000). This exciting project is the culmination of a partnership agreement between Warden Housing Association, West Berkshire Council and Berkeley Homes. A ceremonial planting (11.30am) at Heather Gardens, off Monks Lane in Newbury was carried out to mark the start of the construction work by Pat Scott, a board member of Warden Housing Association. She was joined by David Rendel MP for Newbury, Phil Barnett, Chairman of West Berkshire Council and Alisdair Chant, Managing Director of Berkeley Partnership Homes. Alan Kell, Head of Research at INTEGER gave a short speech outlining the principles of intelligent and green living.

The four-bedroomed detached home is scheduled for completion in Spring 2001, when it will be let for two years to tenants at market rent. It will then become the first INTEGER style home in the UK to be offered for commercial sale. The tenants will be selected by Warden Housing Association and will assist with a monitoring project and the creation of video diaries to quantify the cost effectiveness and comfort factors of living in an 'intelligent and green' home. The family will benefit from living in a light, airy and spacious environmentally friendly home with forward - looking features such as extensive communications and cabling technology to allow computers and internet access throughout the house.

The Warden INTEGER home in Newbury has many similar features to the original INTEGER "DreamHouse" built in 1998 at the Building Research Establishment in Watford. The INTEGER concept, made famous by Carol Vorderman in the BBC 'DreamHouse' series, incorporates a distinctive conservatory at the rear of the house. This will also be seen in the Warden INTEGER home. Other features include: solar heating, grey water recycling, rainwater collection, passive stack ventilation control, recycled newspaper insulation, low energy consumption and low maintenance and sustainable timber frame construction.

Warden's Chief Executive Malcolm Jeffery said "This is an exciting project which marks an important step forward for environmental protection, bringing intelligent and green principles into private sector development. The project will test the response of house buyers of the future to environmentally sustainable provision and the understanding and benefit which we gain from our involvement in the project will have direct benefits for our future tenants as we apply these technologies to future provision. Furthermore, any surpluses generated by the sale of the property will be reinvested in social and sustainable housing by Warden in West Berkshire. I am delighted that Warden is involved in such an innovative project in partnership with West Berkshire Council."

Warden Housing was selected as the preferred partner to fund this exciting project – Newbury's first INTEGER (intelligent and green) home. As part of the planning permission for the site, West Berkshire Council facilitated the development of an environmentally friendly home by Berkeley Homes.

Phil Barnett, Chairman of West Berkshire Council said, "We were delighted to work with Berkeley and Warden in being the first to try out INTEGER in the private market. With the Local Plan soon to be adopted, over 4,200 new dwellings need to be built in the district up to 2006. We want to promote the INTEGER principle of flexible and sustainable dwellings on all new housing sites, whether they are much needed affordable houses or ordinary market housing. We hope this will inspire customers to think about the long term benefits of INTEGER housing, for them and the environment."

Alisdair Chant, Managing Director of Berkeley Partnership Homes commented, "Berkeley Homes has been at the leading edge of the INTEGER programme over the past two years and we are delighted that we have been able to facilitate and promote the delivery of the Warden INTEGER home under the INTEGER principles. The results of its environmental performance and its market value performance at the end of the two year research period will be a clear indication of the potential that can be derived by the INTEGER programme".

Since the initial concept of the project over a year ago, Berkeley Homes and Warden have worked closely with the Architects to develop the plans incorporating the vision to apply intelligent and green technologies which offer better value and performance in the home. In the future INTEGER will support projects in private and social housing, in new build and refurbishment, in self-build and in development. Continuing research and feedback from these projects will enable INTEGER to remain at the leading edge of environmentally friendly construction.

Alan Kell, INTEGER Research Director said, "The ideas behind the INTEGER housing innovation programme have been developed and tested over the past four years, and we are delighted to see this first implementation in the private sector."

"INTEGER's aim is to support the delivery of housing which meets home-owners' aspirations in the 21^st century in terms of design, performance and value. To achieve this we have combined the twin driving forces of sustainability and information technology, and linked these to continuing innovation in the construction industry to deliver better value, better performing homes. This strategy is producing a radical shift in thinking in the house-building industry as well as amongst home-owners who are rightly demanding much higher performance standards from their homes."

"The importance of the INTEGER programme is now being demonstrated in a series of important housing developments around the UK, including this one in Newbury, as well as a high-profile intelligent and green demonstration project in Hong Kong which is being sponsored by the British and Hong Kong Governments."

There will be further opportunities to visit the Warden INTEGER home during construction and view the timber frame construction, grey water recycling installation and other construction stages. Warden will confirm dates as these opportunities arise. Photographs will be made available of key points during the construction process.

Jacque Kissai or Rosie Salkeld, Warden Housing PR Co-ordinators
Tel: 020 8582 2212
Warden Housing Association, 281 Field End Road, Eastcote, Middlesex HA4 9XQ

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